December 2, 2016 -- we all came home from a great dinner at the Communal Restaurant at around 9:30 pm. We were met by our lovable outdoor cat, Kiwi-Cindy Valentine. And as usual, we opened the door for him to go in first and then he went into the kitchen and sat in front of his bowl waiting to be served.
My daughter opened up a can of cat food and put it in his bowl. He graciously ate a half portion of it, like usual. Then, he licked his paws and cleaned his face. After cleaning up himself, he went to play with our dogs and started chasing the red laser. I could hear my daughter laughing as she watched him play. He finally decided to stop and rest.
He was sitting on the floor in front of my daughter and suddenly jolted up like he got scared. His face looked scared and he fell off his butt and laid on his side ... then he made a loud meow while having difficulty breathing. My daughter started calling, "Mom, something is happening with Kiwi!" I ran towards them and saw Kiwi made one last loud meow and stopped. His eyes wide open and his tongue was sticking out on the left side of his mouth. He was dead. In less than a minute, our Kiwi left us! Needless to say, we were all in shock and devastated. How could a healthy cat die in a matter of a few second?
So we googled online and learned that this not uncommon. Apparently, most common causes of sudden death in cats is feline cardiomyopathy or heart muscle disease. Almost all the posted messages online have cats died within seconds of the same manner as our cat did. It's somewhat comforting to know that it wasn't something we did, but it was still heartbreaking to see him disappeared from our lives without any warning. We were not prepared to lose him all too quickly like this. We thought he was going to live till he's 20 and enjoy being the best outdoor cat in our neighborhood.
All that happened feels like a nightmare ... only that it didn't go away when we woke up the next day. Kiwi is still gone and no longer be coming back to our front door and peek through the side window to let us know he wants to come in for food and a warm bed.
Rest in peace, Kiwi. We will meet you again at the Rainbow Bridge!